


Sugar Rush

by AKnightOfAGoodKing



Series: Devil May Cry Attends Redgrave Elementary [9]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Coffee, Comfort, Scheming, hyperactivity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 04:34:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18381056
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AKnightOfAGoodKing/pseuds/AKnightOfAGoodKing
Summary: When you put too much sugar in Nero's coffee(Or: Nero Can Be Smart Too)





	Sugar Rush

**Author's Note:**

> **[DO NOT REPOST/REUSE MY WORK(S) WITHOUT MY ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND PERMISSION]**

It's a chill Sunday morning, and business is going as usual, which is mostly very little today because most people, even bad people, take a day off once a week, usually Sundays. The man doesn't remember why he bother opening on that day, but then again, there have been some interesting cases brought in on a Sunday. 

The only thing that's off is that Nero hasn't gone back upstairs after eating breakfast. The boy's supposed to be in his room or whatever if no one can take him out on weekends, and Dante has to watch over the shop. V's probably not feeling well enough today. The others had trusted Dante to take care of Nero, but the boy is being a bit of a brat this morning, refusing to go back upstairs even though usually he's been pretty good about obeying the rules. 

"Nero, you can't stay downstairs right now," Dante reminds him, crossing his arms at the kitchen threshold as he stares down a ten-year-old. "You know the rules."

"I don't wanna," Nero rebukes, crossing his arms because he's stubborn when he wants to be. "I don't wanna go upstairs, let me stay with you."

"What's with you today, kid? It was Trish and Lady that made this rule, you really want to say no to them?"

Nero just frowns, huffing.

Dante sighs, he needs to convince Nero somehow because even Vergil would be a little upset to see his son downstairs when rather shady people can show up. Everyone knows that Devil May Cry had a child resident, but not many people know Nero's name and face. The white hair might give away that he's related to Dante and Vergil, but unless they see him at the shop, they have no way of knowing for sure. 

"You want to try coffee?" the grown man tries, knowing that Nero's a patient kid but has the natural curiosity to do what he's not allowed too. Dante's like that too. Dante glances at the half empty coffee machine, guessing that Lady didn't have time to finish it all. 

"Coffee?" Nero repeats, blue eyes shining with interest as he kicks his feet in the air. "Father says that's not good for me. It'll stunt my growth."

"Nah, not if it's just a little. If I let you try some, will you be a good kid and go upstairs like you're suppose too?" 

The boy thinks about it for a bit, but it really doesn't take long for him to agree, nodding his head enthusiastically. Thinking that nothing will go wrong, Dante grabs the coffee and a mug from the counter. The man pours in just a little, not even half the mug really, and he puts it on the table in front of his nephew. 

"Here, drink it and go upstairs," Dante says, putting the coffee back. 

Nero takes the mug with both hands, and he stares down at it. "It smells funny," he comments. 

"Well, you can always add sugar and cream to make it sweeter," Dante suggests half-heartedly. "Coffee's pretty bitter by itself." 

"Then I want it sweet."

Dante sighs again, but he complies, taking out the jar of sugar from the cabinet. He puts in three spoonful, muscle memory moving for how he likes his coffee in the rare instances that he drinks caffeine. 

"There," he says, "drink it up. If you spit it out, I'll laugh."

Nero narrows his eyes at the challenge—there's not one—and without breaking eye contact with his uncle, the ten-year-old chugs all the coffee in the mug. Dante's eyes widen in surprise because he didn't think Nero would be so ballsy.

"Eck!" Nero shouts, face scrunched up after a hard swallow, and he slams the mug onto the table. "That's so gross! How do you drink this?" 

Dante chuckles, ruffling his nephew's head. "You'll probably like it better when you're older, kiddo," he says. "Now go upstairs." 

Nero sticks out his tongue, but he gets up from his chair and runs out the kitchen towards the stairs. His footsteps are like stomps, but Dante doesn't think much about it, finally taking a seat at his desk. 

Devil May Cry is now open for business. 

 

 

 

It's an hour in when there's strange noises coming from upstairs, like someone was slamming themselves against the wall. Dante raises an eyebrow, and he calls out from the bottom of the stairs, "Nero! What are you doing?"

There's a moment of silence, which is worrying, but then Nero sticks his head out at the top of the stairs. "Nothing," he says too fast for a normal response. "Just playing."

"Then what was that noise?" 

Again, the boy takes a moment to reply, bouncing on his feet. "What noise?" 

Dante rolls his eyes, walking up the stairs. "Don't play dumb with me. Were you running into the wall or something?" 

Nero looks thoughtful for a second before he dashes off, but there's nowhere to run since the stairs Dante is currently climbing is the only way in or out of the second floor. The man hears Nero running into his bedroom and follows, wondering if he should've put up the "Be back in (5) minutes" sign on his desk. 

"Nero," he calls, looking inside, and funny enough, he doesn't see a hair of that boy. Confused because she's pretty sure Nero went inside, Dante goes searching, looking into the closet and under the bed. "Where the hell did you go?" 

The answer is the ceiling fan— _how did he get up there?_ —because when Dante's checked everywhere, Nero drops down onto his bed, rolling onto the floor, and he books it out of the door, laughing like a maniac. Dante curses and runs after him, the boy going down the stairs. 

"Nero!" the man shouts, eyes wide at the sight of his nephew running around the room without no reason or rhythm but to suddenly wreak havoc as he starts pulling books and records off the shelves and throwing whatever he could onto the floor. "Hey, stop that!" 

Jittery and as lively as a frog in boiling water, Nero keeps running around the room, shrieking loudly with excitement as he jumps on the tables and bouncing on couches. Dante tries to grab at him, but the boy, trained and more physically advanced than other kids his age, dodges by the breath, not staying put long enough to make any movement patterns. A few times, the man nearly hits something because he's not paying attention and "Nero, oh my God, get off that, you're going to hurt yourself! No, not the vinyl!"

When Nero runs out of things to throw and take off the shelves, the boy starts running in circles around Dante's desk, and that's when Dante thinks it's his chance to catch his nephew, running right after Nero with outstretched arms. 

Unfortunately, Nero gives Dante a run for his money as the boy circles the desk, and the man's getting flustered and exasperated, losing to a kid. A Sparda at any age is at his peak, but a younger Sparda definitely had more energy. 

"Nero, please stop," Dante resorts to saying as the boy is now taking his wheelie chair and riding throughout the room as Nero spins himself at gut wrenching speed.

"I don't wanna!" Nero shouts back, letting out a shriek as he starts running again with his hands up the air. 

"Why are you screaming?" Dante asks rather loudly so that he could be heard over the screaming of a child. 

Nero just screams louder, and like an unstoppable force, the boy slams himself against the wall, falling to the ground and then picking himself back up to do it all over again.  _What is wrong with this kid?!_

A low growls creeps into the room, the resident cat entering the room with her master following close behind, staggering down with the help of his cane and the rails. Griffon chirps like a cackle, chasing after the boy who hasn't stopped. 

"What is the cause of this ruckus?" V asks, walking steadily towards Dante. "What did you do?" 

"Why are you blaming me?" Dante asks, but he falters almost immediately, rubbing the back of his neck. "I might have given him too much sugar in his coffee."

The teen shakes his head. "You gave coffee to a ten-year-old."

"He didn't want to go upstairs, it was the only thing I could think of."

"It's fortunate that he's obviously inherited his grandfather's vitality."

"Tell me about it. One day, he's going to beat me and his old man." 

V chuckles. " _No bird soars too high, if he soars with his own wings._  Shadow, entertain Nero." 

The large cat purrs, pleased with the command, and with a jump, she launches herself at the boy, catching him off guard and onto the floor. Nero lets out an excited shriek, rolling around as he tries to get her off him. Shadow gives him a good fight, pawing away his hands and patting at his face. 

"Seriously, all I needed was a big cat?" Dante asks, sighing. "How long do you think it'll take before he crashes?" 

"Eventually," V answers, taking at seat on one of the red couches. Griffon lands on top of his dyed black hair. "Business will need to be closed until he does however. 

Dante grumbles, but he doesn't argue, knowing that he's already getting into enough trouble with Vergil. V's probably a little irritated too, but the teen's not saying anything about that, settling into his seat and watching the wrestling match happening on the floor. Instead, Dante goes to the door of Devil May Cry and opens it to flip over the sign to say 'Closed', and he locks the door so people will know he's serious. It's a Sunday, business can wait.

Patiently, Dante waits Nero's sugar rush out, sitting back at his desk and picking up a magazine. If anything goes wrong, V will say something. 

It's a little after twelve (a good half an hour actually) when Nero has enough of play flighting with Shadow, and lets out a frustrated whine, and wisely, the large cat pulls away, tail swing side-to-side in amusement. She slinks back to V's side. 

"Dante, I'm hungry!" the boy demands, sitting up. 

Dante lets out a snort. "That's not how you ask for food, kid," he says, but he's already up and heading into the kitchen. "Come on, Trish made ham and cheese sandwiches."

Nero smiles, getting up, but he stops when his name is called. 

"Nero, what are your intentions?" V asks, not moving from the couch. He raises a curious eyebrow at the boy. "The myth of sugar rushes have long been debunked, though it's not necessary to know that information." 

Nero looks at his brother for a second, and then he shrugs. "Dante's been gone a lot the last few weeks," he says, pouting. "He's only picked me up once this week, I don't like it."

The teen smiles, letting out a soft laugh. "I see, I'll keep your secret then. Next time, you should just tell him that yourself." 

"Nah, he's supposed to know. He's being lazy so I'm teaching him a lesson!" Nero snickers, running towards the kitchen. "Stay put, V. I'll bring you something to eat too. I know you've only been eating one meal a day, and that's not good!"

V chuckles, realizing that he's been caught too. 

 

 

 

 

At some point, Nero's plan does bite him back, the sugar doing nothing but the caffeine still making him feel jittery. He doesn't tell Dante that though, not wanting to be sent it his room to sleep it off or something. Instead, Nero's getting a little weirded out by how he could feel his heart stuttering in his chest and his blood moving way too fast. Maybe he shouldn't have drank all of it, but it's too late to go back now. 

"I'm never giving you coffee again," Dante comments, noting every one of Nero's fidgets as they finish up lunch. The man makes sure Nero is drinking more water to help flush out the caffeine. "Shouldn't you be feeling sleepy right now? No, the coffee probably counteracted."

Nero hums a note, getting out of his seat to climb onto his uncle's lap to cling on to the man for dear life. He doesn't want to explain anything, but he kinda needs some comforting right now. Nero doesn't think he likes coffee that much, he's never experienced his body like this before.

Dante doesn't push him away luckily but instead wraps an arm around the boy, petting Nero's head. "Guess we're both regretting the coffee and sugar now. Let's head to the other room," he says, lifting Nero up, and he takes them out of the kitchen. V has already returned to his room, leaving the main room empty. 

So the man takes his spot, laying Nero on top of him as he lays on the couches on his back. Dante yawns, carding his fingers through Nero's hair. "It's a pretty slow day for business today," he comments with no hint of disappointment. 

Nero doesn't mind when his uncle falls into a nap, probably expecting Nero to do the same, but the boy rather listen to Dante's heart beating against his ear. There's something very calming about it, and it's helping to distract him from the coffee.

The boy had planned to make Dante play with him a little longer, but he likes this too. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Nero, it's time for bed."

"But, Father, I'm not sleepy."

"You have school tomorrow, you don't have a choice in the matter."

"But I'm not sleepy!"

"Don't make a fuss. If you close your eyes, you'll fall asleep eventually."

"No!" 

"Hmm, you've never argued with bedtime before. Something must have happened today. Was it Dante's fault?" 

". . ."

"So it was.  _Dante!_ "

"I didn't do nothing!" 

"Who drank my coffee?!" 

**Author's Note:**

> In-verse Info 
> 
> [Lady's the only one in Devil May Cry who drinks coffee on a regular basis. Trish goes more for energy drinks and alcohol, and Dante drinks too but mostly socially and prefers juice and plain water, though he would go for a soda too if he's having pizza. His preferences are like a kids, so Nero like the same drinks (except for the alcohol). Vergil and V are similar in liking tea but differ in particular tastes. V likes lighter teas such as green tea types and floral like lavender. Vergil likes to get his caffeine with tea so he usually goes for the black teas but also likes teas with distinct aftertaste like peppermint.] 
> 
> If you like my work(s), please check out [my Twitter](https://twitter.com/kappachyun?s=09).


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